I've seen it happen in my lifetime at both richland creek and gus engeling WMA's, they both used to be type 2 public land until 1999-2000, all you had to do was buy the $48 APH permit and you could bowhunt deer all season, 14,000 acres at RC, 10,000 acres at GE. Now both place offer very limited draws, RC hasn't even done a draw deer hunt for the last 2 years. Duck hunting at RC is limited to monday/wednesday/saturday until noon and his year GE is even requiring a draw for hog hunting, both places are very regulated and restricted compared to how they used to be.

What happened to RC? My boys were drawn on a few youth hunts there several years ago, saw a lot of nice deer in there. That's a shame.

What happened to RC? My boys were drawn on a few youth hunts there several years ago, saw a lot of nice deer in there. That's a shame.

A little more info here http://texashuntingforum.com/forum/u...pics/6568013/2, I do feel they are still over limiting hunting access to RCWMA, it hasn't been type 2 for a long time where you could just buy the APH permit and just follow the county season and bag limits

Well folks, I had a chance to talk to the president of the Texas chapter of backcountry hunters and anglers. Unfortunately he didnít have any idea of what I was talking about with Corp land, and as much as I hate to put someone on blast, they didnít leave me with the greatest sense that they knew what to do about anything.

So far, BHA is touting the win against Kaput hog poison, and not a whole lot else. Problem is that the leadership is spread out all over the state.

Iíve tried to do what I can with what information I had, and I apologize for not keeping up with this thread more but I still think our best bet is to bug the crap out of the Texas chapter of BHA, become a member, and get to know your local Corp office manager. Otherwise nothing is going to change.

The thing about BHA is that it has a lot more money, resources and political backing than anything else we could try to do to pressure Corp land areas into granting more access.

Because really, as BHA puts on their website, theyíre dedicated to increasing access to public lands. If youíve followed TBH lately, there is a heck of a lot of govt land that doesnít allow hunting, even though the land around them are heavily hunted.

What happened to RC? My boys were drawn on a few youth hunts there several years ago, saw a lot of nice deer in there. That's a shame.

It seems to me the managers of some public land act as if the are frustrated wanna be's. They don't or can't manage some land of their own, so they run public land like it was their own private domain.

Well folks, I had a chance to talk to the president of the Texas chapter of backcountry hunters and anglers. Unfortunately he didnít have any idea of what I was talking about with Corp land, and as much as I hate to put someone on blast, they didnít leave me with the greatest sense that they knew what to do about anything.

So far, BHA is touting the win against Kaput hog poison, and not a whole lot else. Problem is that the leadership is spread out all over the state.

Iíve tried to do what I can with what information I had, and I apologize for not keeping up with this thread more but I still think our best bet is to bug the crap out of the Texas chapter of BHA, become a member, and get to know your local Corp office manager. Otherwise nothing is going to change.

The thing about BHA is that it has a lot more money, resources and political backing than anything else we could try to do to pressure Corp land areas into granting more access.

Because really, as BHA puts on their website, theyíre dedicated to increasing access to public lands. If youíve followed TBH lately, there is a heck of a lot of govt land that doesnít allow hunting, even though the land around them are heavily hunted.

This is true for South Texas. We have the Atascosa Wildlife refuge here. We are allowed to hunt in some areas but not others. Then after all the hunters are gone the government pays for a private company to come in and slaughter the animals in the areas were we are not allowed to hunt. Their reasoning is that there are too many animals but they won't let the paying public hunt there. They would rather pay some big company to do it and cover it with tax payer dollars. From my point of view the government is turning the public land in to private land by letting a company come in and skip the draw system and even make money off the government.

It seems to me the managers of some public land act as if the are frustrated wanna be's. They don't or can't manage some land of their own, so they run public land like it was their own private domain.

True, true. Its high time for TPW rotate some new guys in to RCWMA maybe Gus too and rotate some current long time guys to other WMA's.

To my knowledge there's no group actively advocating on behalf public land hunters in Texas.

As someone mentioned there's a chapter of the BHA, though a good group they're focus seems to mostly be on western states.

There's definitely a need for such a group in Texas.

Iím on the state BOD for BHA and we are in the process of formulating policy initiatives. We need to know what we issues we need to prioritize . Please send me specific cases that need our attention and I will pass on to the board so we can write position pieces and start efforts to change policy.

Iím on the state BOD for BHA and we are in the process of formulating policy initiatives. We need to know what we issues we need to prioritize . Please send me specific cases that need our attention and I will pass on to the board so we can write position pieces and start efforts to change policy.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Good to hear! I wish we could sticky your post because Iím sure youíre going to be getting a lot of info sent your way.

So far we have worked in opposition to commercial sell of venison, warfarin (Kaput) use on feral hogs, and written a position piece in opposition to the development and increased commercial use of the Jones State Forest.

But we are just getting started. I have sent this thread to the board of directors and also the BHA leadership in Montana. We are listening and want to get involved as soon as we can. if you have a specific tract of land that has been affected recently or you are hearing about a policy change/access change that is being proposed please notify me so we can contact who we need to .

If you want to help BHA stay on top of the issues in your area, PM me on here or email me @ jaredkennedy1111@ gmail.com

So far we have worked in opposition to commercial sell of venison, warfarin (Kaput) use on feral hogs, and written a position piece in opposition to the development and increased commercial use of the Jones State Forest.

But we are just getting started. I have sent this thread to the board of directors and also the BHA leadership in Montana. We are listening and want to get involved as soon as we can. if you have a specific tract of land that has been affected recently or you are hearing about a policy change/access change that is being proposed please notify me so we can contact who we need to .

If you want to help BHA stay on top of the issues in your area, PM me on here or email me @ jaredkennedy1111@ gmail.com

You may feel it's outside of your/our purview, but I'd like to see an end to prohibition of carrying handguns on most Corps projects, especially for LTC holders.

I'm always a bit nervous going out into my preseason scouting. I try to hunt as far as I can from other hunters. As a result I can make it quite a ways into some places and usually on my own since my hunting partner lives an hour or two from some of our places and I live 20 minutes from a few of them. It hasn't happened to me yet, by I know there have been grows on some of the areas I use. While I'd rather not have any trouble at all I'd certainly prefer to be armed if I should be the person who stumbles onto the next grow...

All of the USACE areas in texas are restricted to limited range weapons for hunting, don't need guys in there popping deer with pistols, and yes it would happen with some of the yahoos that live around these lakes...

All of the USACE areas in texas are restricted to limited range weapons for hunting, don't need guys in there popping deer with pistols, and yes it would happen with some of the yahoos that live around these lakes...

So making it double (or triple) illegal will stop criminals? Maybe USACE should prohibit growing, manufacturing, or using illegal drugs on their property too.

There are Corps properties that allow shotgun slugs (I know Bardwell did, but I may have missed it if they changed). I suppose someone could carry a TC and result in something more than "limited range", but is a pistol really going to change that much?

Additionally, there are other public properties that allow rifle hunting, sometimes for deer and sometimes not. How are those different than all the Corps lands?

Ladies and gentlemen, I had the opportunity to speak to the chapter president of Texas Backcountry Hunters and Anglers and I can honestly and confidently say, weíve got representation now.

Iím going to be sending him a sample list of some of the information Iíve accrued, but in the future the ultimate goal is to have issues as a state wide level, then specific local issues.

Ideally, if they can get a website up it would have each hunting area and the regulations and concerns facing each area.

But most importantly, this isnít just a few concerned citizens now. Now, itís a concerted effort with national recognition, and the best part is that right now with Secretary Zinke and the current state of affairs over public land, theyíre going to be looking for good publicity wins.

Ultimately, I donít think that there is a SINGLE piece of Corp of Engineers property in the state of Texas with a huntable whitetail population that shouldnít allow bowhunting.

It may have to come from on high at the national level for it to get done, but this is how itís gonna happen folks. Spread the word. Share this post. Get it out there.

If your section of public land is in danger of having access to it limited, hereís your chance to fight back. And hereís your chance to see some areas of public land opened up that may never have been before.